The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

Canning by-election campaign heats up

Labor leader Bill Shorten is again Perth-bound as the battle for the Canning by-election intensifies.

Mr Shorten is expected to visit Armadale, which is in the electorate, on Friday before addressing the party's state conference in Ascot on Saturday morning.

Clive Palmer and his Palmer United Party candidate, Mineralogy managing director Vimal Sharma, were due to hold their campaign launch and a press conference in Armadale around the same time.

But they've reschedule the event for next week because Mr Sharma is ill with the flu.

The by-election, triggered by the death of long-serving Liberal MP Don Randall, will be held on September 19.

The candidates will be formally declared on Friday.

Micro-parties that are already known to have thrown their hat in the ring include the Sustainable Population Party, which has backed environmental scientist and local resident Angela Smith, and the Australian Defence Veterans Party, which started in WA in 2013 but was registered in June.

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Its first candidate Greg Smith told AAP the party intended to stand in the 2016 Senate election but would be happy to gain two per cent of the vote in Canning, with the House of Representatives being "a harder ask".

He said the party agreed with Labor that tackling drug use, youth unemployment and crime was linked to education, but it wouldn't do a preference deal.

Mr Smith said the Brookdale house of the party's treasurer, Vic "Smokey" Dawson, was robbed during their launch on Monday, highlighting how big the law and order issue was in Canning.

Meanwhile, Labor candidate Matt Keogh says there's no reason for the party to disassociate itself from unions amid revelations of corruption exposed by the royal commission.

The dispute resolution lawyer has also brushed aside suggestions it has left a cloud hanging over Mr Shorten.

"Union membership might be lower than it was historically but that doesn't in any way devalue the great work that the Labor party and unions are doing to make sure that health is properly funded, education is properly funded and that people get jobs," he told 6PR on Thursday.

He said these were important issues for Canning residents, particularly with high youth unemployment in Armadale and Mandurah.

Mr Keogh said residents were also worried about ice, crime and anti-social behaviour, which Liberal candidate Andrew Hastie, a former SAS captain, has also pledged to tackle.